*sorry to tell you but there really is no metal played on the radio. That's mostly hard rock (there are exceptions of course).
**you're thinking of black metal; most other metal actually doesn't do that.
Please give me recommendations for more death and doom metal! I have, like, none of that in my library. Thanks.
Also, I listen to a lot of metal, but mostly power metal. Why? ...I don't know. Because it's fun? Y'all can just talk to me about metal music, too. It's hard to find other fans, sometimes.
*warning, opinions
SO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT METAL? Oh, you don't?
Well, why not?
It's a fine genre if you know the type of music you want to listen to! Mostly because...it's many different genres. Let's go through a few "misconceptions" (or whatever you want to call them). I'll mark where swearing/language occurs, if not you can assume there is no bad language
A few good sites first:
METAL-ARCHIVES. I don't completely agree with everything on here, but it is a fantastic resource. Especially for lyrical content! Example: you want to know what a band sings about? Well, it'll tell you what they (generally) sing about! So if you want to hear bands that sing about dragons but not about zombies, it's very helpful.
MAP OF METAL. This literally maps out the way metal has evolved over the years. It's extremely helpful for when you want to know where a genre came from and the closest sounding musical relatives. I highly recommend looking at this right now.
Okay! Let's find a genre of metal for you. There will be links to the metal-archive and to a youtube clip!
**These are all small summaries of the actual genre. Surprisingly Wikipedia does a good job truly describing each genre, but I also suggest looking at the Map of Metal.**
"I don't like screaming!"/"Isn't metal only screaming?"
No, that isn't true. At all. A lot of metal genres have no screaming.
"All of that is still too screamy."
That's fine, maybe you want some more melodic stuff to listen to:
"Does Evanescence count?"
No, but they're symphonic rock, so try some symphonic metal. There's also gothic metal if you like the darker themes though.
"Are you SURE Evanescen-"
Yes.
"Still too screamo!"
Fine. There's instrumental metal, too:
"I only listen to music from before 1985."
Well, you're missing out, since there's plenty of good stuff being made right now (it's just not on the radio or promoted anywhere, thanks record companies). But, if you insist:
Want a little later, maybe mid-90s?
"I like dance music!"/"I really like Nine Inch Nails."
You wouldn't think these have anything in common, but, well, just wait:
"But I like drinking to crappy pop music!"
Why drink to crappy pop music when you can drink to metal drinking songs?
"I like progressive/post-rock already."
Then maybe you'll like progressive metal, it's prog rock with metal influences.
"I only listen to foreign bands."
Japan has a huge, huge, huge metal fanbase. In fact, pretty much all of Asia does, compared to the USA. Also, a lot of folk metal bands sing in their native language and not English.
"I really just like what's on the radio and I'm not open to expanding my musical boundaries at all."
That's awful, but we can work with it...
"I've listened to all of these suggestions and I hate them all."
Sorry
"Why don't you talk about death/thrash/speed/doom metal?"
This article is to help people get into metal who otherwise found it offputting, but hey if you wanna take the plunge, here: *language all over*
"You forgot a genre."
Yeah, probably.
Etc:
-RIP Ronnie James Dio
-Even American bands will release limited edition albums in Europe and Japan, but not here (USA). Incredible.
-Let's not go deep into which band is metal and which isn't. That is inviting a flame war and we don't need that.
-Clean vocals are just that, singing (sometimes falsetto). Harsh vocals can either be: gutteral growling or loud screaming.
-Feel free to correct me, I don't know everything.
-Type "Intro to Heavy Metal" into google and you'd find a better article probably, but hey!
-A sentence I never thought I'd hear live on the radio but heard last year: "Here's Ozzy with the world premier of the new Black Sabbath song!" I was so confused/happy.
- - - Post Merge - - -
(I. am. going. to. take. a. nap. now.)
**you're thinking of black metal; most other metal actually doesn't do that.
Please give me recommendations for more death and doom metal! I have, like, none of that in my library. Thanks.
Also, I listen to a lot of metal, but mostly power metal. Why? ...I don't know. Because it's fun? Y'all can just talk to me about metal music, too. It's hard to find other fans, sometimes.
*warning, opinions
SO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT METAL? Oh, you don't?
Well, why not?
It's a fine genre if you know the type of music you want to listen to! Mostly because...it's many different genres. Let's go through a few "misconceptions" (or whatever you want to call them). I'll mark where swearing/language occurs, if not you can assume there is no bad language
A few good sites first:
METAL-ARCHIVES. I don't completely agree with everything on here, but it is a fantastic resource. Especially for lyrical content! Example: you want to know what a band sings about? Well, it'll tell you what they (generally) sing about! So if you want to hear bands that sing about dragons but not about zombies, it's very helpful.
MAP OF METAL. This literally maps out the way metal has evolved over the years. It's extremely helpful for when you want to know where a genre came from and the closest sounding musical relatives. I highly recommend looking at this right now.
Okay! Let's find a genre of metal for you. There will be links to the metal-archive and to a youtube clip!
**These are all small summaries of the actual genre. Surprisingly Wikipedia does a good job truly describing each genre, but I also suggest looking at the Map of Metal.**
"I don't like screaming!"/"Isn't metal only screaming?"
No, that isn't true. At all. A lot of metal genres have no screaming.
POWER METAL - Okay, not gonna lie, I love power metal. You'll also love power metal if you like 80's hair ballads. Most power metal has no screaming or swearing. A lot of bands sing about mythical lands, dragons, etc etc.
Examples:
Standard:
[MA] [YT] Kamelot - "Karma" is the best power metal album in existence
[MA] [YT] Falconer - any of their albums with Mathias Blad on them is pure ear heaven. Crosses with folk metal
[MA] [YT] Freedom Call - these guys are beyond ridiculous I love them so much
[MA] [YT] Dark Moor
[MA] [YT] Fairyland
If you like Dungeons and Dragons:
[MA] [YT] Blind Guardian - Lord of the Rings metal
[MA] [YT] Rhapsody of Fire - all of their albums tell a story, you have to start at the beginning if you want to follow it
If you like space operas:
[MA] [YT] Star One
[MA] [YT] Iron Savior - their whole discography is one giant space opera
If you like WWII/war:
[MA] [YT] Sabaton - They... sing about WWII. and WWI. and Lao Tsu (The Art of War).
If you like video games:
[Wiki] [YT] Powerglove - Instrumental metal video game covers
[MA] [YT] DragonForce - remember Guitar Hero?
Examples:
Standard:
[MA] [YT] Kamelot - "Karma" is the best power metal album in existence
[MA] [YT] Falconer - any of their albums with Mathias Blad on them is pure ear heaven. Crosses with folk metal
[MA] [YT] Freedom Call - these guys are beyond ridiculous I love them so much
[MA] [YT] Dark Moor
[MA] [YT] Fairyland
If you like Dungeons and Dragons:
[MA] [YT] Blind Guardian - Lord of the Rings metal
[MA] [YT] Rhapsody of Fire - all of their albums tell a story, you have to start at the beginning if you want to follow it
If you like space operas:
[MA] [YT] Star One
[MA] [YT] Iron Savior - their whole discography is one giant space opera
If you like WWII/war:
[MA] [YT] Sabaton - They... sing about WWII. and WWI. and Lao Tsu (The Art of War).
If you like video games:
[Wiki] [YT] Powerglove - Instrumental metal video game covers
[MA] [YT] DragonForce - remember Guitar Hero?
That's fine, maybe you want some more melodic stuff to listen to:
SYMPHONIC METAL - This stuff, to put it lightly, is opera + guitars. Power and symphonic cross often. Mostly female singers in this genre.
Examples:
[MA] [YT] Nightwish - duo of female clean vocals and male harsh vocals, but still not all the way into "screamo" territory.
[MA] [YT] Within Temptation - if Nightwish is too heavy, then try them out! Their slower songs are nice and relaxing while the faster, heavier songs get your blood going. Also, their newest album has a song featuring Xzibit (I have no idea how this happened), so...if you like rap??
Examples:
[MA] [YT] Nightwish - duo of female clean vocals and male harsh vocals, but still not all the way into "screamo" territory.
[MA] [YT] Within Temptation - if Nightwish is too heavy, then try them out! Their slower songs are nice and relaxing while the faster, heavier songs get your blood going. Also, their newest album has a song featuring Xzibit (I have no idea how this happened), so...if you like rap??
No, but they're symphonic rock, so try some symphonic metal. There's also gothic metal if you like the darker themes though.
Yes.
"Still too screamo!"
Fine. There's instrumental metal, too:
Well, you're missing out, since there's plenty of good stuff being made right now (it's just not on the radio or promoted anywhere, thanks record companies). But, if you insist:
NWOAHM - Is apparently understood as "always confused with nu-metal". Heavily contested, will start flame wars.
Examples:
[MA] [YT] Pantera
[Wiki] [YT] Avenged Sevenfold
[MA] [YT] Black Label Society
the whole of melodic death metal
Nu-metal is different and not metal. Hard rock, yes; contains elements of metal, yes; but is it metal? No.
(it stands for "New Wave of American Heavy Metal", if you couldn't guess)
Examples:
[MA] [YT] Pantera
[Wiki] [YT] Avenged Sevenfold
[MA] [YT] Black Label Society
the whole of melodic death metal
Nu-metal is different and not metal. Hard rock, yes; contains elements of metal, yes; but is it metal? No.
(it stands for "New Wave of American Heavy Metal", if you couldn't guess)
You wouldn't think these have anything in common, but, well, just wait:
NEUE DEUSTCHE HARTE - "New German Hardness", it is similar to Industrial, but has more of a dance beat and is, of course, sung in German. *language/graphic*
Examples:
[Wiki] [YT] Rammstein - That band that plays "Du Hast", which is on the radio. It's a shame though since literally everything else they've ever done is better.
[Wiki] [YT] Eisbrecher - "Ice breaker"
[Wiki] [YT] Oomph!
Examples:
[Wiki] [YT] Rammstein - That band that plays "Du Hast", which is on the radio. It's a shame though since literally everything else they've ever done is better.
[Wiki] [YT] Eisbrecher - "Ice breaker"
[Wiki] [YT] Oomph!
Why drink to crappy pop music when you can drink to metal drinking songs?
FOLK METAL - America doesn't really have folk metal, unless there's a Native American folk metal band around (and if there is PLEASE tell me about it), because it has more to do with the historic ancestry of the place the band lives. Mostly Vikings (because most of it is Norse), but that's a different section. *mild language*
Examples:
[MA] [YT] Korpiklaani - These guys have a ton of drinking songs, hunting songs, living-in-the-forest songs, etc. They are a lot of fun.
[MA] [YT] Tyr - They sing about the ancient Norse god of war, Tyr.
[MA] [YT] Eluveitie - Some of these songs DO have harsh vocals, but they're so good. They sing about the history of Gaul, sometimes in ancient Gaulish.
[MA] [YT] Ensiferum
Examples:
[MA] [YT] Korpiklaani - These guys have a ton of drinking songs, hunting songs, living-in-the-forest songs, etc. They are a lot of fun.
[MA] [YT] Tyr - They sing about the ancient Norse god of war, Tyr.
[MA] [YT] Eluveitie - Some of these songs DO have harsh vocals, but they're so good. They sing about the history of Gaul, sometimes in ancient Gaulish.
[MA] [YT] Ensiferum
PIRATE METAL - Not exactly folk metal, as it can be any type of metal (and have harsh vocals or not), but you can be guaranteed that there'll be drinking songs.
[MA] [YT] Running Wild - All clean vocals, all about pirates. Power metal.
[MA] [YT] Swashbuckle - Harsh vocals, also about conquering the high seas. Thrash metal.
[MA] [YT] Alestorm - Clean vocals, but the singing is pretty harsh...so, make your own call. Very good if you have your own pirate crew and you can all sing along. (Mostly) power/speed metal.
[MA] [YT] Running Wild - All clean vocals, all about pirates. Power metal.
[MA] [YT] Swashbuckle - Harsh vocals, also about conquering the high seas. Thrash metal.
[MA] [YT] Alestorm - Clean vocals, but the singing is pretty harsh...so, make your own call. Very good if you have your own pirate crew and you can all sing along. (Mostly) power/speed metal.
Then maybe you'll like progressive metal, it's prog rock with metal influences.
PROGRESSIVE METAL - If you like your songs over an hour with guitar solos you can't air guitar, then yes, this is for you. Very technical, time signature changes, etc.
Examples:
[MA] [YT] Dream Theater - Everyone should be listening to Dream Theater, anyway.
[MA] [YT] Ayreon - Actually not completely metal, however the leader of the project, Arjen Anthony Lucassen, hires many different metal musicians and vocalists to assist him. And, it's amazing. Lucassen also does a bunch of different projects, some rock and some metal, and you should pay attention to every single one of them.
Progressive Power Metal:
[MA] [YT] Symphony X
[MA] [YT] Sonata Arctica - they have slowly moved from power metal to progressive rock back to prog metal attempting power metal...
Examples:
[MA] [YT] Dream Theater - Everyone should be listening to Dream Theater, anyway.
[MA] [YT] Ayreon - Actually not completely metal, however the leader of the project, Arjen Anthony Lucassen, hires many different metal musicians and vocalists to assist him. And, it's amazing. Lucassen also does a bunch of different projects, some rock and some metal, and you should pay attention to every single one of them.
Progressive Power Metal:
[MA] [YT] Symphony X
[MA] [YT] Sonata Arctica - they have slowly moved from power metal to progressive rock back to prog metal attempting power metal...
Japan has a huge, huge, huge metal fanbase. In fact, pretty much all of Asia does, compared to the USA. Also, a lot of folk metal bands sing in their native language and not English.
Examples:
[MA] [YT] Loudness - 80's heavy metal, but in Japanese
[Wiki] [YT] BABYMETAL - Death metal vocals but with three Japanese girls.
[MA] [YT] Chthonic - Taiwanese Symphonic Folk Death Metal. Very harsh Chinese vocals. Also very good. They sing about the history of Taiwan.
[MA] ARIA - Russian Iron Maiden
[MA] [YT] Loudness - 80's heavy metal, but in Japanese
[Wiki] [YT] BABYMETAL - Death metal vocals but with three Japanese girls.
[MA] [YT] Chthonic - Taiwanese Symphonic Folk Death Metal. Very harsh Chinese vocals. Also very good. They sing about the history of Taiwan.
[MA] ARIA - Russian Iron Maiden
That's awful, but we can work with it...
Like I said before, most of what is called 'metal' on the radio is just hard rock. Every once in a while, a metal band will make it's way onto the airwaves, though. Most are older bands, too. Look at that list made back in the "you don't listen to new music" section. That's all you're getting. And a splattering of melodeath bands (see below). As you can see, that's hardly anything representative of metal.
Add these bands:
[MA] Black Sabbath
[MA] Danzig
Add these bands:
[MA] Black Sabbath
[MA] Danzig
Sorry
"Why don't you talk about death/thrash/speed/doom metal?"
This article is to help people get into metal who otherwise found it offputting, but hey if you wanna take the plunge, here: *language all over*
DEATH and DOOM METAL - I know next to nothing about these genres. I don't listen to them. If you have anything of these genres tell me about them please! I WANT to listen to more of it!
HOWEVER there is melodeath, melodic death metal, which is the likes of Bullet for my Valentine, Five Finger Death Punch, etc. They use melodic vocals with the harsher chords of death metal.
HOWEVER there is melodeath, melodic death metal, which is the likes of Bullet for my Valentine, Five Finger Death Punch, etc. They use melodic vocals with the harsher chords of death metal.
BLACK METAL - This is the "Satan will eat you" "devil"-music that metal gets its reputation from. I also don't know too much about this genre, band-wise. Sorry. There is the opposite, White Metal, which is just... Christian Metal. I don't know anything about it.
Yeah, probably.
Etc:
-RIP Ronnie James Dio
-Even American bands will release limited edition albums in Europe and Japan, but not here (USA). Incredible.
-Let's not go deep into which band is metal and which isn't. That is inviting a flame war and we don't need that.
-Clean vocals are just that, singing (sometimes falsetto). Harsh vocals can either be: gutteral growling or loud screaming.
-Feel free to correct me, I don't know everything.
-Type "Intro to Heavy Metal" into google and you'd find a better article probably, but hey!
-A sentence I never thought I'd hear live on the radio but heard last year: "Here's Ozzy with the world premier of the new Black Sabbath song!" I was so confused/happy.
- - - Post Merge - - -
(I. am. going. to. take. a. nap. now.)
